Connection Agreements and Public Folder Replication

Topic Last Modified: 2005-05-06

Configuration connection agreements, user connection agreements, and public folder connection agreements—are all important to public folder replication.

Important:

Exchange Server 5.5 does not support general purpose public folder trees. However, you can configure computers running Exchange Server 5.5 to participate in the routing of replication messages for general purpose trees. To do this, the configuration connection agreement adds entries to the Exchange Server 5.5 directory for the general purpose public folder stores, in a special container called Exchange 2003 Configuration Objects.

Configuration connection agreements (Config CAs) replicate site and administrative group configuration objects between Exchange Server 5.5 and the Active Directory directory service. Exchange Setup creates Config CAs automatically. The following tables list important attributes that the Config CAs handle. These attributes play a part in replication of the Public Folders tree between computers running Exchange Server 2003 and Exchange Server 5.5.

Attributes that Active Directory Connector (ADC) replicates from the Exchange Server 5.5 Site-MDB-Config object to the Administrative Group object in Active Directory

Exchange Server 5.5

Active Directory

Description

Site-Folder-Guid

siteFolderGUID

Identification of the site folders for this site.

Site-Folder-Server

siteFolderServer

Name of the server that is responsible for hosting the site folders (typically, the first server in the site or administrative group).

Folders-Container

msExchPfCreation

Location in which to create the public folder's directory entries in Exchange Server 5.5. If this attribute is not present, the Recipients container is used. In Exchange Server 2003, the store reads this attribute on startup to determine what LegacyExchangeDN the store must use when a folder is created in Exchange Server 2003. Using this attribute, the public folder connection agreement will replicate the new folder back to the correct container in Exchange Server 5.5.

Attributes that ADC replicates from the Exchange Server 5.5 Microsoft Public MDB object to a Public Folder Store object in Active Directory

Exchange Server 5.5

Active Directory

Description

Obj-Dist-Name

LegacyExchangeDN

Tracks the public folder store's Exchange Server 5.5-compatible name.

Email Addresses

proxyAddresses

Identifies the e-mail addresses for the public folder store.

Home-MTA

HomeMTA

Replicates the Home-MTA to Exchange Server 5.5, so that Exchange Server 5.5 can route replication messages to Exchange Server 2003.

As stated previously, computers running Exchange Server 5.5 can route replication messages for general purpose public folder trees. The following table lists the attributes that make this function possible. These attributes are replicated from Active Directory to the Exchange 2003 Configuration Objects container in the Exchange Server 5.5 directory.

Attributes that are replicated from Active Directory to the Exchange 2003 Configuration Objects container in Exchange Server 5.5

Active Directory

Exchange Server 5.5

Description

LegacyExchangeDN

Modified Obj-Dist-Name

The LegacyExchangeDN attribute does not map directly to the Obj-Dist-Name attribute. If it did, the general purpose public folder store object would be in the same container as public folder store objects for the Public Folders tree. Instead, the object is placed in the Exchange 2003 Configuration Objects container.

Replicates the store's e-mail addresses to the store object in Exchange Server 5.5.

Important:

If you need to use an Exchange Server 5.5 Internet Mail Connector (IMC) to replicate information for a general purpose public folder tree, you must configure an additional X.500 proxy address for the general purpose store object in the Exchange Server 5.5 directory. Use the Exchange Server 5.5 Obj-Dist-Name for the new proxy address.

The user connection agreement replicates Exchange Server 5.5 mailboxes, custom recipients, and distribution lists to Active Directory users, contacts, and groups. Because these objects are used in public folder access control lists (ACLs), it is crucial that this information be replicated correctly.

The public folder connection agreement replicates the public folder directory objects between Exchange Server 5.5 and Active Directory. In Exchange Server 5.5, all public folders have directory objects. In Exchange Server 2003, only mail-enabled public folders have directory objects. By default, in mixed mode, folders in the Public Folders tree are mail-enabled automatically. The following table describes in greater detail how the public folder connection agreement replicates objects between Exchange Server 5.5 and Active Directory.

Setting up public folder connection agreements can prevent the following problems:

Folders that are created on Exchange Server 2003 cannot be administered from Exchange Server 5.5 if they do not have a directory entry in the Exchange Server 5.5 directory. The Exchange Server 5.5 administrative program requires directory objects for all public folders.

Folders created on Exchange Server 5.5 that do not have an object in Active Directory generate errors if you administer them using Exchange System Manager. The folder has properties stating that it is mail-enabled, so Exchange System Manager tries to find the directory object for that folder. The error can be cleared and the folder can still be administered, but you encounter the error each time you work with the folder. Also, an administrator might again attempt to mail-enable the folder and create a separate object for the folder in Active Directory. In such a case, if a public folder connection agreement is put in place, there will be two directory objects for the same folder, and e-mail messages sent to the folder will be returned as undeliverable.

If folder objects are not replicated correctly, an administrator running DS/IS consistency adjuster on Exchange Server 5.5 can create folder objects in the Exchange Server 5.5 directory that do not correspond to the folder objects in Active Directory. In such a case, if a public folder connection agreement is put in place, there will be two directory objects for the same folder, and e-mail messages sent to the folder will be returned as undeliverable.

There might be a future need to send a folder in e-mail. If all of the Exchange Server 5.5 servers are removed by the time you need this functionality, there is no longer a place from which to replicate the directory objects, so the folders have to be updated manually (or mail-enabled again by using a script).

Details of how public folder objects replicate between Active Directory and the Exchange Server 5.5 directory

Exchange Server 5.5 to Active Directory

Active Directory to Exchange Server 5.5

Search for public folder objects in the Exchange Server 5.5 directory, starting from the Site level. This means that all containers are searched for public folder objects, not just the Recipients container.

Search for public folder objects in the Microsoft Exchange System Objects container in Active Directory. This is the only Active Directory container that holds public folder objects.

Public folder objects replicate to the Microsoft Exchange System Objects container in Active Directory.

Public folder objects replicate into the Exchange Server 5.5 directory container that is indicated by the LegacyExchangeDN value (set by the store when the folder is created, based on the value of msExchPfCreation). Unless another container is specified, the object will be placed in the Recipients container.

The Home-MTA and Home-MDB attributes are not replicated because they are meaningless to Exchange Server 2003.

The HomeMDB and targetAddress attributes are not replicated because they are meaningless to Exchange Server 5.5.